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tv   News Nation  MSNBC  March 22, 2013 11:00am-12:00pm PDT

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under a sense of constricted possibility. i also don't want the israeli people continually looking over their shoulder thinking at any point their house may be hit by a rocket or a bus may be blown up. and so part of the tragedy of the situation has been that neither side is getting exactly what they want but it's not been possible to break out of old patterns. and a difficult history. so my hope and expectation is that as a consequence of us doing our homework, we can explore with the parties a mechanism for them to sit back down, to get rid of some of the old assumptions. to think in new ways and to get this done. and i think if it gets done in a
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timely way, then the israeli people will be safer and the palestinian people will be freer. and children on both sides will have a better life. and as a consequence, the region as a whole will be strengthened and the world will be safer. i can't guarantee that is going to happen. what i can guarantee is we'll make the effort. what i can guarantee is that secretary kerry will be spending a good deal of time in discussions with the parties where i can assure you that nobody feels a greater interest in us achieving this than his majesty, and so we're just going to keep on plugging away. the one thing i did say, i think to both sides is the window of opportunity still exists but it is getting more and more
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difficult. the mistrust is building instead of ebbing. the logistics of providing security for israel get more difficult with new technologies. and the logistics are creating a continuous and functioning palestinian state become more difficult with settlements. so both sides have to begin to think about their long term streeng interests, instead of worrying about can i gain a short term tactical advantage here or there? and say to themselves, what is the big picture and how do we get this done? that's ultimately what i believe both people want. i think it was very interesting that my speech in jerusalem, some of the strongest applause came when i addressed the
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israeli people and i said, you have to think about these palestinian children like your own children. it tapped into something that they understood inherently. that gives me hope. that shows possibility there but it's hard. what i also said was that ultimately, people have to help provide the structures for leaders to take some very difficult risks. that's why i wanted to speak directly to the israeli people and to the palestinian people, so that they help empower their leadership to make some very difficult decisions and tradeoffs in order to achieve a compromise where neither side will get 100% of what they want. we'll see if we can make it happen. >> thank you, mr. president, king abdullah.
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mr. president you've said repeatedly on this trip and before that all options are on the table to stop iran from getting a nuclear weapon, including military action. yesterday the supreme leader of iran came out and said if any action is taken against his country, he will raze the cities of tel aviv and haifa, are you prepared to deal with the fallout? and to king abdullah, if i can ask what you think would happen here? what would be the aftermath of a military strike, whether taken by the united states or israel against iran? what is a bigger threat to its stability in this region? iran with nuclear weapon or another war in this region? >> first of all, and i'm not going to engage in a whole bunch of hypotheticals because what i've said from the moment i came
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into office was that the best resolution of this situation is through diplomacy. and i continue to believe that. we have organized the international community around a sanctions regime that is having an impact on iran. not because we forced other countries to do it. they recognized if you trigary nuclear arms race in this region, as volatile as it is, if you have the prospect of nuclear weapons getting into the hands of terrorists and extremists, that it is not just israel that's threatened. it is a whole range of people that could be threatened. we're right now about the possibility of syria using chemical weapons what would be the conversation if syria
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possessed nuclear weapons? so this is not just a problem for israel. it is not just a problem for the united states. it is a regional and worldwide problem. and by the way, we have been consistent in saying that not proliferation is a problem around the globe. not just with respect to iran. the fact of the matter is that iran has not been able to establish creditably with the international community that in fact it is simply pursuing peaceful nuclear power. there is a reason why it is subject to all these resolutions and violations identified by the united nations. that's not something we made up. there are a lot of other countries who had the technical capacity but for some reason they are able to get right with the international community. iran has not been able to do so. now, if in fact what the supreme leader has said is the case, which is that developing a
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nuclear weapon would be unislamic, and that iran has no interest in developing nuclear weapons, then there should be a practical, verifiable way to assure the international community that it is not doing so. this problem will be solved. to the benefit of the region and to the benefit of the iranian people. they are celebrating their most important holiday. and every year, i deliver a mention. and i remind -- they are a great civilization. they have unbelievable talent. they should be in the international community, thriving and building businesses
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and expand commerce, and there should be exchanges and travel and interactions with the iranian people and every one else, including the united states. that should be the vision. not threats to raze israeli cities to the ground. part of the frustration that i think we all feel sometimes is that it seems as if people spend all their time organizing around how they can gain advantage over other people or inflict violence on other people or isolate other people instead of trying to figure out how do we solve problems. this is a solvable problem. if in fact iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapon. so we'll continue to apply the pressure that we have in a nonmilitary way to try to resolve the problem. we will continue to try to
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pursue diplomatic solutions to the situation. but yes, i have said as president of the united states that i will maintain every option that is available to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon because i think the consequences for the reasoning and for the world would be extraordinarily dangerous. my hope and expectation is that among a menu of options, the option that involves negotiations, discussions, compromise and resolution of the problem is the one that's exercised. but as president of the united states, i would never take any option off the table. >> there is very little that i would like to add to what the president said. i think looking from the jordanian point of view, the challenges that jordan faces as we look around the reasoning,
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the challenges of what the israelis and the palestinians will be facing in 2012, the instability you're seeing in syria, we have the concerns of what's happening in iraq, and even his reaction where the israeli or the iranian to me is pandora's box. nobody can guarantee what the outcome will be. so heapfully there is another way of resolving this problem at a time when so much instability in the middle east, we just don't need another thing on our shoulders. >> thank you. >> thank you. i'm craig melvin in for tamron hall. the president there wrapping up a news conference with king abdullah, one of america's closest allies in the region. topping the crisis i, half a million refugees to jordan and they also spent a great deal of time that iran may pose in the reasoning if it develops nuclear
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weapons. president obama arrived in amman to a red carpet welcome and immediately had a lengthy meeting with the jordanian leader. >> today i'm announcing that my administration will work with congress to provide jordan with an additional $200 million in budget support this year as it cares for syrian refugees and jordanian communities affected by this crisis. >> before heading to jordan, the president spent a final morning in israel touring some of jerusalem's powerful cultural landmarks. at the grave of itzhak rabin. president obama also visited the holocaust memorial joining president peres and prime minister netanyahu as well as secretary of state john kerry as well. and in nearby bethlehem, president obama toured the church of the nativity. the biblical birth place of
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jesus. he did that with the palestinian president mahmoud abbas. the president then held one more scheduled meeting with benjamin netanyahu before taking that 35-minute flight to jordan. martin fletcher has the very latest on that 50-minute news conference that we all saw there. martin, let's start with the news conference. the president and king abdullah. they spent a great deal of time on what had been the dominant themes during the trip. iran, syria and the palestinian peace process. what struck you most from the news conference that we just saw? >> reporter: well, what struck me most, craig, in addition to the call for the desperately urgent need for a peace agreement, or the peace process between israel and the palestinians and the question of how to stop iran from developing a nuclear weapon. we've been hearing that for the last three days. what struck me as so significant was when king abdullah gave the
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number of how many syrian refugees have come across the border and are now being hosted in jordan in a refugee camp on the very close to the syrian border. 460,000 syrian refugees. he said that makes it the fifth largest town in jordan. that's 10% almost of the jordanian population has come across from syria as refugees. and king abdullah then went on to say at the present rate of the refugees crossing the border, by the end of this year he said there will be up to 1 million syrian refugees inside jordan which is a small, poor state with all kinds of internal tensions of its own. that would really aggravate those tensions so that was very interesting to me. jordan which is already, has been at the tumult around it in the so-called arab spring in iraq, egypt, nonetheless, jordan has been pretty peaceful.
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great possibilities of more stress if those numbers really do reach 1 million refugees in jordan. that's an incredible number. >> let's talk quickly about the restarting of the palestinian/israeli peace talks. the president said the window's closing. king abdullah said the same thing. that the window to any sort of peace negotiation is closing. why is that window closing? what is happening in that part of the world? >> well, the problem is nothing is happening between israelis and the palestinians. the reap he said the window is closing is that for israel and president obama mentioned with the very important points. for israel, the window is closing because the technological superiority in terms of weapons israel has cannot be kept on endlessly. technology is becoming so threatening to israel that even if they win every war in the future, the damage that can be done to israel would be so great
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that winning would almost be like losing. and for the palestinians, their problem is that the israelis are settling more than as less land that is available for a future palestinian state. so time is running out for both sides to reach a peaceful two-state solution. and in the absence of a two-state solution, the next alternative would be what they call a one-state solution. one state between the jordan river and the mediterranean. that would be a recipe for disaster and there's no way that a peace process could take care of that kind of scenario. so the urgency for a two-state solution was expressed over the last few days. can i mention one development today. when obama and netanyahu that their final farewells at the airport, there was a very surprising development. obama was able to persuade netanyahu to telephone the
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turkish leader, prime minister erdogan. they were able to reach a compromise that they were unable to reach over the last three years between those two very strong allies and very critical friends of the united states in this region. netanyahu for the first time did what he refused to do over the last three years. he apologized for israel's can i go of nine palestinians on that flotilla three years ago when it was trying to reach gaza. he apologized for the killing of the nine. he said israel will pay financial compensation to the families of those nine people. and he said the third condition that turkey was insisting upon, he said israel will do what it can to relax the siege of gaza even further. in return the turkish prime minister said we will resume diplomatic relations with israel. send an ambassador to tel aviv, to jerusalem. what that means is that that former very close military cooperation between turkey and israel, he have significant and
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important, could be resumed soon. so that was a major achievement by president obama. just as he left israel. >> martin research inner from tel aviv, thank you. joining me now for a little more on this key trip, former state department official p.j. crowley. always good to see you. the president just announced he will be working with congress to provide roughly $200 million in humanitarian aid to jordan. but privately, what else do you think the jordanians will be asking of this administration in regard to syria? i think on both sides, the real question is the perspective from the president from them as to what is the probability or potential that what's happening inside of syria emanates beyond its borders. obviously jordan has shouldered a significant burden with more than 400,000 refugees that have flowed into jordan. there is a similar burden
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experienced in lebanon and turkey. and the conflict has crept ever more closely to the syrian/israeli border with fighting now in the golan heights. i think the most valuable peace of this in terms of syria is just the president getting the perspective from the neighborhood. how urgent is this and whether there is in fact something more that the international community or particularly the united states can do. so the president has taken a very cautious approach to syria. it will be interesting to see if those calculations change once the trip is over. >> you mentioned the international community. the pressure on the president now. not just coming from international leaders like king abdullah. back here, senator john mccain has joined with senator carl levin to urge the president to action. he sent a letter to president obama and in that letter he said in part, the longer the conflict in syria goes on, the worse its
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consequences are becoming. the potential use of chemical weapons only makes the case for greater action more compelling and urgent. what's the likelihood that we might see more american involvement in syria? >> i think those are two calculations. on the one hand, everyone recognizes and the president said again in the press conference that in fact the longer this goes on, the greatter fragmentation inside syria. the hard he it is to put it back together again when the conflict ends and assuming that assad steps aside. however, translating that political imperative into discreet military steps and actions is actually quite difficult. in has been a lot of talk. john mccain has talked repeatedly over the last two years about establishing a no-fly zone. that involves an act of war that brings the united states as a combatant into the syrian civil
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war. it may well become necessary but it is not a step that you must take lightly. somebody else in congress has suggested, insert american forces to guard the chemical weapons sites. i mean, one of the driving factors in military action is forced protection. how are you going to protect these discreet elements? we think we can define it politically as a narrow mission but in fact, the net result is bringing the united states as a full combatant into this conflict. >> and do we even know where all the sites are at this point? >> the united states knows where the sites are, yes. the united states is saying we're monitoring these situations and we have confidence that the syrians still have positive control of chemical weapons. obviously, as was also discussed at the press conference, finding out about these two reports of chemical-like weapons that seemed to have some effect on
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the people who were near these explosions, what that means and what the implications are in terms of u.s., it will be very important as the president has said. that's a red line that would fundamentally change his calculations about what to do in syria. >> p.j. crowley, thank you. sflx the "news nation" is also following some developing news. we've got new information about the murder-suicide in northern virginia. the shooting happened last night where an active duty marine shot and killed two of his fellow marines, then turned the gun on himself. officials say it looks like it was over a personal dispute. an emotional commander described the scene this morning. >> i would ask for the support of our neighbors, the xlut, and their thoughts and prayers as well. for our marines who have lost their comrades in arms. >> joining me now, nbc chief
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pentagon correspondent, jim miklaszewski. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: according to some officials we talk, to it does appear to be a personal issue. perhaps it could even involve a love triangle. what happened last night, it was about 10:30 that there was a report of shots heard within the barracks at the officers' training facility there at quantico marine base. when the first responders arrived, they found one marine, a male, shot dead. they had no idea where the gunman was, if in fact there was still a threat. so they very methodically room by room cleared the building and it was like three hours later that they came upon the body of a female marine and another male marine. it appears that male marine shot and killed the female and then turned the gun on himself in
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what ultimately appears to be a double murder/suicide. this is all under investigation. the marines included a sergeant and two corporals who are actually training in the officers' candidate school there. and they did locate a handgun which appeared not to be military issue but a personal weapon. the identities of these three marines will not be released until 24 hours after all the families are notified which is the military custom rule if you will. so right now, the investigation is underway and everybody is pretty much guessing exactly how this went down. once they talk to other witnesses who know the three, and gather up the forensics, they'll need to come one a formal conclusion and all that could take weeks. >> nbc's chief correspondent, jim miklaszewski. thanks. i want to bring in dr. zimmer. he is an expert on service members. he wrote the book military
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psychology. clinical and operational applications. eric, first, let's just talk a little about quantico. how it is set up and what it means to have an incident like this happen at that base. >> well, the history goes back to world war i. you have to think of it as the epicenter of military doctrine. for an active duty martin to shoot with hostility and other active duty marine, it has to be a shock to the military community. it goes against the communicate, always faithful, always loyal, to really defend your friend, your fellow soldier to death. it is a really cynical contradiction to what occurred and it has to shock the military community to its core. >> what kind of psychological evaluation do service members get? do those evaluations vary from branch to branch? >> well, of course, all military
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person he will undergo what they call fitness for duty. they are different for a fighter pilot than a clerical personnel. anybody who carries a weapon, who was trained to understand the delivery and the how to deliver a weapon, they get some training. that's the interesting part of this. the armed forces, it's armed. we rely on them to protect our country. when something like this happens, you wonder where did this shooter fall through the cracks. and as you know in the military, there is a strict linear hierarchy of accountability. and so this speaks to the fact, how did that person's superior, how did they know about this? what is their responsibility in terms of understanding how this all happened. >> expert on the psychology of service members. thank you, sir. >> you're welcome. turning to politics, the senate is in the midst of what
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is expected to be a bit of a marathon session. stretching into the wee hours of the morning as it seeks to pass its first federal budget plan in four years. it will be nonbinding but politically it will be symbolic. the session has already been marked by heated debates. battles over amendments. in the end, the senate is expected to pass a 2014 budget plan offered by democratic senator patty murray from washington state. that would raise taxes on the wealthy. taxes on corporations. it would also protect safety net programs and domestic priorities like education from cuts sought by house republicans yesterday. meanwhile, as our nbc news first read team notes, guns and immigration are set to take center stage when congress gets back next month after a two-week recess on. gun control, senate majority leader harry reid is demanding any bill passes the senate must include universal background checks. that come after announcing a ban on assault weapons would be
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stripped from the bill because there's not enough support and it might doom the whole measure. meanwhile, there is plenty of bipartisan support for immigration reform. however, there is still no bill. april ryan is the white house correspondent. and chris is a democratic strategist. good to see both of you. gun control sure to be the most contentious issue. universal gun checks, increased penalty for purchase and grants for school safety. why cannot we get a ban on assault weapons? why cannot we get a ban on high capacity ammunition clips and poll after poll shows the lion's share of folk in this country want that of. >> we are a nation of convicted people. many of us have our beliefs and passions on one side or the other. you have to remember that the nra and also those assault weapons manufacturers are very,
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very, very strong lobby. that is one of the major issues. when it come to the issue of magazines and how many rounds, ten rounds versus seven rounds, the question is, with the manufacturer's, are you allowed to restrict me from what i make. that's one of the major issues there. also, when you deal with all the other issues of the gun issue, you have a lot of passion on both sides. i believe from what we are hearing, bits the second amendment. many people feel they want to have guns to protect themselves or for sportsmanship legally. but people think -- >> but even a lot of those folks, when you ask them they'll say, yeah, we want to carry our guns but we also understand why universal back ground checks make sense. we understand why there should be some restrictions on the type of guns that we can have. >> well, the consensus is on the universal background checks. up and down pennsylvania.
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>> they've been pushing to include the president and vice president. they were pushing for the assault weapons ban. again that other side, that strong lobby of the nra, those who feel that they have the right to bear arms, the second amendment, that is really strong. so right now, the devil is in the details about the rounds. ten to seven rounds. >> this is what united natioeug wrote. senate democrats holding on to the majority. i would love to hear them explain their calculations to the parents of newtown. chris, we all remember president obama's state of the union address and the declaration that he made over and over. these families deserve a vote. these families are not going to get a vote on that. is it going to come back to hahn someone? politically? >> you know, i think there's a chance that there will be a vote.
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i think it will be offered as an amendment. it may not be part of the central core bill but i think you will see a vote on it. listen, here's the reality. there is a mill calculation to this. i know people don't like to hear it. i don't like to see it. they are in a tough place to win and the reality they face is how do they support this and go out there and say they're still for the second amendment. i think they can do it. i think there is a way to do it. but politically it is a very big challenge. so the idea it that the senate democrats are going down is basically, separate it. the taint of elections. this is the political environment that we live in. and up fortunately, it affects these issues which are incredibly emotional and after newtown, even more so. >> let's turn to immigration.
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>> the devil is in the details again. we understand after recess, that congressional leaders are supposed to take it up. if not, we understand, if there is some kind of slowdown or impasse, that there is a plan b here at the white house. the president has something ready to hand in a legislation on immigration reform. he wants this to happen this year. and we understand that will happen and just the last couple of days, we understand the president and senior administration officials have been calling leaders on the hill to make sure about other things as well. but to make sure this immigration issue is moving forward. >> chris, what will be the most contentious part of immigration reform? will it be the citizenship issue? >> absolutely. it is the definition of what amnesty is, if you will. this is where i think the distinction without a difference. both sides, i think, are coming to term with the fact this has
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to happen. we're still on the democrat side. the republicans realize they cannot go through another election and have this issue hanging out there. i think this has been the moment that this will happen and i'm really encouraged by this. i think everything is coming together. in fact i think that there is not a bill being proposed. it is actually a good sign. i know that sounds kind of weird to the lay person. if it was out there, they would be fighting about it. that it is not out there in the public domain. that they're negotiating the terms. when it comes out, there will be bipartisan consensus. so there is a very good sign. >> the fact that we're not hearing anything is a good sign. >> it's washington. >> for our viewers, we should note is gun issue. the gun control issue will be front and center this sunday on "meet the press." new york city mayor and advocate
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michael bloomberg. and wayne lapierre, both will be dade gregory's exclusive guests. and next week, mark murray will join me to preview the political fallout that could come of that. and the unity ticket that almost was during the 2012 republican primary. the one thing, the one thing that kept newt gingrich and mark santorum, the one thing is what we thought you should know. for your first day? yeah. ♪ dad: you'll be fine, ok? girl: ok. dad: you look so pretty. ♪ i'm overprotective. that's why i got a subaru. love.
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deposits. that same deal the parliament rejected a few days ago. our chief correspondent joins with us the very latest. the european union gave cyprus until monday to come up with the bailout plan. what is the likelihood of this happening? >> reporter: most people i've spoken with are optimistic, though it could all be derailed. the stakes are very, very high if they don't get a deal done. it likely means that cyprus would have to abandon the euro and the country doesn't want to do that. it is in their interests to come one something. what they're fighting about is two very large, very sick banks that need a lot more money if they're going to be left standing. and cyprus would like a bailout. the other european countries really don't want to do that. instead what they want cyprus to do, to make those two very large sick banks much, much smaller and therefore, much, much
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healthier. but if you make them smaller, guess what? a lot of people lose jobs. this economy which is very dependent on financial services. will 50% of the economy will definitely suffer so it is a huge, huge fight. plus, a lot of people are going to have to lose money if they've had uninsured deposits in those banks. in other words, were they above the insurance threshold? did they have more than 100,000 euro? which is approximately $130,000 in their accounts? they may lose 30, 40, 50% of that cash and instead get shares or bonds in a future bank that they don't know how much it will be worth. extremely complicated. sufficed to say what is perhaps on the line, perhaps poe tlings the first country leaving the euro. >> from cyprus for us, thank you, michelle. back here, a new twist in the search for the man who gunned down the colorado corrections chief including reports that the murder was
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ordered by a white supremacist gang. we're live in monument, colorado with an update on that. first a lot going on. a few things we thought you should know. an interesting story today in business week. it says mitt romney struggled in the early primaries last year, newt gingrich and rick santorum nearly agreed to form a joint unity ticket to consolidate conservative support and topple romney. but the report says the negotiations collapsed because gingrich and santorum could not agree on who would be president. business week quotes gingrich as saying, in the end it was too hard to negotiate. meanwhile at an elementary school yesterday, a politically savvy young student put new jersey governor chris christy on the spot. >> i'm a third grader at the elementary school. you've done a great job here in new jersey and i was wondering if you were thinking about
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running for president. >> do you work for msnbc? i'm not thinking about running for president right now because i've got a job to do here. and i've got an obligation to all these folks. you can't worry about fourth grade until you finish third gras grade and i can't worry about that until i do this job. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership. you'll have to pay five hundred bucks for your deductible. the truth? at allstate, you could pay zero. allstate gives you a hundred dollars off your deductible the day you sign up. then another hundred off every year you don't have an accident.
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that could potentially help politicians in both parties? >> i think you could see more governors, more state legislatures feel like they might have free reign for gay marriage in their states. craig, i will say you're already seeing such a rush on this in states with democratic control. and the change in attitudes has been striking. in our own "wall street journal" poll, 30% of the country supported gay marriage in 2004. that is now a majority. 51%. so a full 20 or more percentage points increase in just nine years. that's amazing in social attitudes and in american politics. >> it kind of reminds me, when roe v. wade happened, a lot of politicians could say this is settled law. so you don't have to spend a great deal of time engaged in debates with a potential political opponent over it. if the court, if it keeps these laws intact, how could that
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complicate the path for politicians running for office? >> it could. it could complicate what democrats have been able to do in a lot of the states across the country. and craig, there is the possibility there could be a mixed verdict as well. where the court strikes down the defense of marriage act on federal grounds. but then keeps the california's ban against gay marriage and prop 8. so it could be a mixed, but the politics of this as i mentioned, the polling. you see the direction where this country is going. sometime america's politics and the courts move a little bit slower than overall popular opinion. but continues in one direction right now. >> there have been a number of republicans, most notably rob portman who has endorsed same sex marriage. this is what he said. take a listen. >> i don't know what will happen in nine years. i know what our principals are and i know our party believes marriage is between one man and one woman. but i know that we have a party that will be inclusive.
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>> what does that mean? >> well, that's the hard thing to do. not only when it comes to gay marriage but when the republican party is talking about outreach to african-americans, that sometime the language doesn't really match up with that. the polls show the acceptance of gay marriage. when you look at the party breakdown, the majority of republicans oppose gay marriage. that shows you the box the republican party is in. you end up having rob portman. he is more the exception rather than the rule in the gop. >> senior political editor mark murray. thank you. coming up, officials investigating whether the man who led police on a high-speed chase in texas yesterday is connected to the murder of colorado's prison chief. we'll get a live report. e over o mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock.
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we've got some breaking news from bismarck, north dakota. the legislature has just pass ad bill that would essentially ban abortion. it would ban abortion by defining human life as beginning at conception. it is just one of a series of laws that have been passed in north dakota recently, chipping away at abortion rights there. the state's republican governor has not yet said whether he will sign that bill but again, a short time ago the north dakota state legislature defined human life as beginning at conception. that would of course essentially ban abortion in north dakota. abortion rights activists have said this is unconstitutional. they are vowing to fight the measure and again the republican governor has not indicated whether he will sign it. but again, some news from north dakota. when we come back, our "news nation" gut check on a new boarding procedure that american airlines is testing out. some say that it helps move things along. others are arguing it is a type
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of hurry up and wait situation. we'll tell you how to weigh in on that. and be sure to like the "news nation" on facebook. facebook.com/newsnation. most people think that after an accident, you'll have to pay five hundred bucks for your deductible. the truth? at allstate, you could pay zero. allstate gives you a hundred dollars off your deductible the day you sign up. then another hundred off every year you don't have an accident. let the good hands reward your safe driving with a deductible that goes away.
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you can join "news nation" on twitter. right now we're working fresh leads in the murder of colorado's prisons chief. the man behind the high-speed chase and shoot-out in texas may be connected to the killing in colorado. this is some brand new video taken moments after the crash happened. this car opened fire. you can see officers. that man is now dead. just north of dallas. that's nearly 600 miles from the colorado scene where a gunman shot and killed tom clements at his back door tuesday. nbc's leeanne gregg is live in colorado. what's the latest? >> the autopsy is being
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performed on evan spencer after he was killed last night. it was a wild shoot-out with at times ebel reportedly firing at policemen out the window. one officer was struck. he was wearing a bullet-proof vest and he is said to be okay. ebel suffered some gunshot wounds and today he was pronounced dead from those wounds. they're trying to connect this man with two murders in colorado. first, of tom clements, the head of the colorado prison department who was gunned down at his front door in his home in monument tuesday night. and a pizza delivery man and the father of three who was killed on sunday. there is speculation that he may have been wearing the pizza uniform that was stolen from the delivery person when he approached the door of clements. these are all theories they're working on right now. they're looking at dna evidence. evidence from the vehicle which did have colorado plates. and other sources of evidence to
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try and link mr. ebel to these crimes. and possibly some others in the state of texas. that's the latest from colorado springs, colorado, back to you. >> thank you. time for the "news nation" gut check. american airlines is testing a new way to get passengers on planes that they believe may be faster than the current boarding procedures that we're all used to. but not everyone is sure that it is going to work or that the airlines' motives are pure. here's nbc's kerry sanders. >> we would like to continue with our executive platinum members. >> reporter: after those with frequent flyer status in the first class seats get on the plane, american airlines ask what if passengers who had no luggage got other next? >> if you have only one carry-on item, you may join us in boarding at this time. >> reporter: american is now testing that boarding process. in ft. lauderdale, austin,
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baltimore, and washington-dulles. to some it would appear logical. >> that makes sense. the less stuff you have to have moo, the quicker it will go. >> reporter: on thursday, the flight from ft. lauderdale to dallas had 22 passengers board with no suitcases for the overhead bins. >> is it faster? >> it seemed like it. >> people need to check their bags. they fill up all the compartments by taking three and four carry-ons. >> reporter: almost immediately suspicion from those with roller boards waiting to board. >> i got $20 that says most of them put them in the overhead compartment instead of under their seat. >> reporter: they said they are policing that behavior. passenger with luggage pay $25 for the first bag. some travel agents wonder if this is another way to increase revenues. >> if they gave the first free bag to the passenger, then a lot more people will put their bags through and walk on the plane and just get right on the plane. >> reporter: and then there is this question. what is the benefit of boarding
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faster if you have to wait for your luggage when you land? >> it is like hurrying up to wait. i don't think it saves any time. >> in a statement to nbc news, american airlines says it is important to note, this is a limited test. so what does your gut tell you? do you think that new boarding procedure that american airlines is testing will do anything to speed up the process? go to facebook.com/newsnation to vote. that does it for this edition of "news nation." tamron is back on monday. "the cycle" is up next. max and penny kept our bookstore exciting and would always come to my rescue. but as time passed, i started to notice max just wasn't himself.
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